You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

August 2013

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

In revelations that would be comical if they weren’t so predictable
(and true), President Obama’s top small business advocate really is
keeping it consistent with the administration he backs.

Small
Business Majority President and CEO John Arensmeyer has frequently been
trotted all over the place as a small business advocate supportive of
the president’s agenda and policy goals. In a Huffington Post piece last year Arensmeyer advocated for higher taxes, writing "of course, nobody likes paying taxes, but we have a grave budget crisis on our hands."

Then there's this video segment in which Arensmeyer pushed support for an online sales tax. Note his advocating that everyone pay their fair share:

That’s funny considering Arensmeyer himself has had frequent problems when it comes to paying his own taxes, via The Washington Examiner:

Federal
records show, for example, that from 2005 to 2009 Arensmeyer's group
failed to file mandatory IRS 990 tax returns, even though donor records
show Small Business Majority got at least $1.4 million in 2008 and 2009.
Failure to file 990's for three consecutive years can result in the
forfeiture of a group's tax-exempt status.

So, his
vehicle for advocating that everyone else pay their fair share hasn’t
been paying its fair share all along? It doesn’t stop there:

Marin
County, Calif., court records show four tax liens on Arensmeyer
Communications between 1999 and 2001, totaling more than $66,000. A
fifth tax lien against Arensmeyer's firm was filed by the Illinois
Department of Revenue in 1999 for $4,011.58. Arensmeyer filed Chapter 7
bankruptcy in 2007 to erase $211,000 in largely personal debt. The
self-professed small business advocate even stiffed a struggling
Pennsylvania small business, costing the owner $20,000.

Costing
real small business owners thousands of dollars while racking up tax
liens? All in a day’s work for someone who seems to think the Obama
agenda actually helps small business.

The report exposing
Arensmeyer goes on to note that he’s managed to also attend 17 White
House functions, including but not limited to a South Lawn event with
British Prime Minister David Cameron. Seems you can do whatever you want
as long as you support the Obama agenda.

Monday, August 19, 2013

According to the Associated Press,
in a signing note Christie said the health risks of trying to change a
child's sexual orientation outweigh concerns over the government setting
limits on parental choice:

Government should tread carefully into this area and I do so here reluctantly.

However,
I also believe that on the issues of medical treatment for children we
must look to experts in the field to determine the relative risks and
rewards. I believe that exposing children to these health risks without
clear evidence of benefits that outweigh these serious risks is not
appropriate.

According to CNN, Christie, a Catholic, Christie has stated his opposition to gay conversion therapy and in an interview on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" said he did not think homosexuality is a sin:

Well,
my religion says it's a sin. But for me, I don't. I've always believed
that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual. And so, I
think if someone is born that way, it's very difficult to say then that
that's a sin. But I understand that my church says that.

Christie
is wrong about the teachings of his own religion. Catholicism teaches
that homosexual acts are a sin, not homosexuality.

New Jersey will
be the second state to ban gay conversion therapy. California passed a
similar ban last year, but the law became mired in litigation before it
went into effect over whether the ban violates the First Amendment
rights of therapists and parents.

This
move by the "centrist" Christie seems part of his strategy to run to
the left of other potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates.
Cristie's move to the left is also evidenced by his recent support for medical marijuana for ill children.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts will be in Iowa on
Sunday to, among other things, size up whether Iowans might be
interested in a President Brown.

Brown told The Des Moines Register,
"I’m going to be coming out more often to try to determine whether
there’s an interest in my brand of leadership and Republicanism." Brown
had a few things to say when asked about his presidential ambitions:

I
think a lot of people today, they live in a bubble. They live in their
home state and they don’t leave their comfort zone or try to expand
their knowledge or understanding of what’s happening around the rest of
the country or in the rest of the world, in some instances.

I want
to understand the challenges and the opportunities and the aspirations
of the people in the Midwest and how they view us and vice versa. I want
to see if there’s interest in my brand of politics, being a strong
national security hawk and a fiscal conservative. The way I see it, hey,
there’s plenty of room for people in the party like me and Sarah Palin
and Rand Paul and Chris Christie, yet we’re always attacking each other
for not fitting some ideologically pure mold.

[. . .]

When
it comes to the social issues, I find great people on both sides of the
issue. I want to keep an open mind and find a balanced way to solve the
issues.

Brown has a good story -- state legislative
experience, U.S. Senate experience and 34 years of military experience.
There was a Harper presidential poll last December in which Brown garnered 3%.

Maybe
I'm being harsh, but I think Brown is a bit premature. He should run
for, and win, either the U.S. Senate again or governor of Massachusetts
in 2014. He has yet to decide about either of those races.

The
poll was conducted in ten Republican-leaning but not safe-Republican
Congressional districts -- six presently held by Republicans and four by
Democrats resulting in a sample fairly representative of the nation.

If President Obama forces a government shutdown over the defunding of ObamaCare the blame would be share.

Republicans
should be much more concerned with the fallout of failing to defund
ObamaCare than with the imaginary fallout of doing so. The poll found
that a majority would be less likely to support the reelection efforts
of House members who voted to continue ObamaCare funding while 48
percent said they’d be more likely to support a member who did
"everything" they could to slow down implementation of the law.

How
unhelpful it is for Congress to accept the special deal enabling
Members of Congress and their staff will be exempted from the impact of
ObamaCare.

The need to be careful about the rhetoric used during the defunding debate

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Yesterday, Republican Senate Candidate Liz Cheney called on Senator
Mike Enzi to commit to return his taxpayer-funded ObamaCare subsidy to
the U.S. Treasury and to convince his Senate colleagues to do so, as
well.

Tuesday, Cheney called on Senator Mike Enzi and other elected
officials to renounce special treatment that they will now receive
under ObamaCare.

The Office of Personnel Management issued a ruling
that enables Members of Congress and their staffs to buy health
insurance coverage in the new ObamaCare exchanges and use the large
($5000 per individual and $11,000 per family), tax-free subsidy that
they receive for their current health coverage to pay for their new
ObamaCare coverage.

According to the Casper Star-Tribune, Enzi’s camp responded that he doesn’t support special treatment for lawmakers. And yesterday, in an interview, Enzi answered Cheney by saying he’s been trying to defund and dismantle ObamaCare since 2009 and will continue to do so.

It's
hard not to notice that Enzi failed to commit to return his special
ObamaCare subsidy that is not available to his constituents.

This
special treatment for Congress reminds me of the days before the
Republican's Contract with America when many laws did not apply to
congress. The first reform promised by and accomplished pursuant to the
Contract with America was to require all laws that apply to the rest of
the country also apply equally to the Congress. Perhaps the current
Congress has forgotten that they should be treated like other citizens
and not remain a privileged elite, immune from the consequences of the
very laws they imposed on the rest of the country.

Cheney has
also launched an online petition, No More Special Deals for Congress. It
urges Senator Mike Enzi and the other elected federal officials to
renounce the special deal that members of Congress and their staffs are
now getting under ObamaCare. The petition can be accessed here.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A new Heritage Action poll finds broad support for defunding ObamaCare:

Likely voters support defunding 57%-34%.

Among
those with strong opinions on either side, those who “strongly support”
defunding outnumbered those who “strongly oppose” defunding by a
41%-22% margin, signifying much greater intensity among opponents of the
law.

Independents, support for defunding 57%-34%, exactly mirroring the result in the overall sample.

A large majority, 77% favor either a slow down in implementation or an outright repeal.

Just 42% of Democrats fully embrace ObamaCare, with 36% agreeing that it should be slowed down, and 17% favoring repeal.

Only 5% of Republicans and 17% of Independents favor proceeding with ObamaCare fully and without changes.

The
poll was conducted on August 7-8, 2013, by Basswood Research in ten
Republican-leaning but not safe-Republican Congressional districts --
six presently held by Republicans and four by Democrats:

Only 20% of voters in these districts support going forward with ObamaCare unchanged.

By
a two to one margin (60%-29%), voters approve of a temporary slowdown
in nonessential federal government operations, which still left all
essential government services running.

More encouraging for
defunding supporters is that the potential of President Obama forcing a
partial government shutdown over defunding ObamaCare will not be blamed
solely on Republicans. Thirty-three percent would blame "Republicans in
Congress" or "The TEA Party," 41% would blame "Democrats in Congress" or
"President Obama," and 17% would blame "all of them." Independents
would spread the blame among groups on the Right, 36%, groups on the
Left 30% and 26% would blame both.

Heritage Action for America CEO
Michael A. Needham said, "House Republicans should be much more
concerned with the fallout of failing to defund ObamaCare than with the
imaginary fallout of doing so."

The poll found that a majority
would be less likely to support the reelection efforts of House members
who voted to continue ObamaCare funding while 48 percent said they’d be
more likely to support a member who did "everything" they could to slow
down implementation of the law.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Workforce Fairness Institute ("WFI"), an organization that works to stop big labor’s harmful encroachment on the workplace, has launched its Union Boss of the Year contest.

Every few days, WFI will add a Union Boss of the Year contestant on its Facebook page. You can
vote for your favorite boss by liking and sharing the image. The boss
that gets the most shares and likes will be the WFI Union Boss of the
Year.

WFI has selected some really horrific union bosses for the contest. This is an interesting way for WFI to meet its
goal to educate the public on issues related to workforce fairness, and
to build greater public awareness of efforts that interfere with the
good employer/employee relationships that most businesses enjoy.

The first contestant is Hector Lopez, former President of Metal Polishers Union who plead guilty in federal court to a kickback scheme and tax evasion:

Lopez,
54, admitted pocketing kickbacks from a third-party administrator of
the union's welfare fund, rigging the bids for a sprinkler system for
the union hall so a crony would get the contract, and submitting
inflated invoices for renovations to the union hall in exchange for
cash.

"When I did these things I knew they were illegal," Lopez told Judge Allyne Ross.

According to the Daily News, Lopez's $148,000 salary was $40,000 more than allowed by the bylaws of the cash-strapped union. He collected a weekly $445 per diem and tooled around in a Cadillac Escalade. Lopez also resided rent-free in an Oakland Township, N.J., mansion owned by the contractor who was greasing his palm.

Instead
of looking out for the welfare of his members, Lopez stole money that
intended to pay for healthcare expenses of union members and their
beneficiaries.

Lopez's entry, posted Monday, has 205 likes and 137 shares,

The second contestant is Mark Rosenthal, President of Local 983 of District 37 -- New York City's largest blue-collar municipal-workers union. His entry image will be posted Wednesday.

According to the New York Post, Rosenthal "eats lunch when he arrives at work at 2 p.m. Then, like clockwork, he goes to sleep," and is usually out by 4 p.m. after being at the office two hours.

The winner of the Union Boss of the Year contest will be announced on August 28, 2013. The winning boss wins ignominy and the public hopefully wins awareness of the gross abuses of some labor bosses.

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

In his latest Freedom Minute Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) urges Americans to speak out in favor of defunding Obamacare.
You can listen to the Senators call to action here:

Hi, I’m Ted Cruz and this is the Freedom Minute.

Last week, we marked the one-year anniversary of my winning the Texas Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

That
victory was made possible because thousands upon thousands of
grassroots activists across the state saw that the country was in
trouble and stepped forward to help fix it.

Today I work for 26
million Texans, and your support is why I'm serving in office helping
lead the fight to protect the Second Amendment, to secure the border,
and to unshackle the free market economy.

Now we need to activate another grassroots army -- this time on a national scale.

In
September, Congress will have the opportunity to defund Obamacare --
the disastrous health care law, which is killing jobs and hurting the
health care system.

The only way we can win this debate is if the
American people rise up and demand it. Please join us and let your
representatives know where you stand.

I’m Ted Cruz and this is the Freedom Minute.

This call to action is a continuation of Senator Cruz's efforts to mobilize the grassroots to support the campaign to defund ObamaCare.

Senator Cruz made a similar appeal during his speech at the RedState Gathering in New Orleans last week. He urged people to go to the Don't Fund It.com
website and sign the petition to tell Congress not to fund ObamaCare.
Cruz also wants hundreds of thousands of Americans to call their
Senators and members of the House and tell them to "stop saying you
oppose ObamaCare and actually stand up and defund it":

"I
can’t win this fight. There is no elected politician in Washington who
can win this fight. The only people who can win this fight are you. The
only people who can win this fight are the American people rising up in
overwhelming numbers and saying, 'We want our country back.'"

Senator Cruz has also posted a video on YouTube describing how ObamaCare can be defunded, which you can watch here.

Sunday, August 04, 2013

At the RedState Gathering in New Orleans on Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz
called for a grassroots effort to persuade Republicans to eliminate
funding for President Obama's health care law. Or as he put it, the
"biggest and the most important battle 113th Congress is going to face"
-- the battle to defund ObamaCare.

Senator Cruz told the
gathering of Conservative activists that the best way to defund
ObamaCare is with the continuing resolution needed to fund the federal
government after the current continuing resolution expires on Sept. 30, 2013.

Senator
Cruz and other like-minded Senators have vowed not to vote for any
continuing resolution that funds ObamaCare. To be successful 41 Senators
or 218 Members of the House must stand together and likewise refuse to
fund ObamaCare.

Don't Blink

This is how Senator Cruz said this could work:

The House
passes a continuing resolution that funds the entire federal
government and includes language that explicitly prohibits spending even a
penny of federal money, discretionary or mandatory, on ObamaCare.

The
next step is that President Obama and Harry Reid will yell and scream
that those mean Republicans are threatening to shut down the government.
At that point we have to do something different than we've done before.
We have to step up and win the argument.

Senator
Cruz explained that those opposed to ObamaCare must tell the American
people they are not shutting down the government -- they are voting
to continue funding the entire federal government except for ObamaCare.
They must ask why President Obama is threatening to shut down the
government in order to force ObamaCare down the throats of the American
people?

"Obama has been willing to grant ObamaCare
waivers to giant corporations. Why is Obama threatening to shut down the
government to deny that very same waiver to the hard-working families
of America?"

Cruz admits that they don't yet have the
41 Senate or 218 House votes to make this work. Some Congressional
Republicans are afraid to defund ObamaCare. They fear the President's
big bully pulpit and that the main stream media will repeat word for
word everything he says:

"So if the President says the Republicans are shutting down the government, the reporters will write that."

Senator
Cruz shrugs that off. He points out that the way ObamaCare opponents
can win this argument is by a grassroots mobilization of the American
people. He urges people to go to the Don't Fund It.com
website and sign the petition to tell Congress not to fund ObamaCare.
Cruz also wants hundreds of thousands of Americans to call their Senators
and members of the House and tell them to "stop saying you oppose
ObamaCare and actually stand up and defund it":

"I
can’t win this fight. There is no elected politician in Washington who
can win this fight. The only people who can win this fight are you. The
only people who can win this fight are the American people rising up in
overwhelming numbers and saying, 'We want our country back.'"

Union's, Obama's most faithful allies, are jumping off the ObamaCare ship:

James Hoffa, head of the Teamsters, wrote a letter
to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
saying ObamaCare is destroying the 40-hour work week that is the back
bone of the middle class.

The IRS employees' union, whose members are in charge of enforcing ObamaCare, wants out from under ObamaCare.

Last month Obama was forced to admit the failure of ObamaCare by unilaterally and lawlessly delaying the employer mandate on certain companies until after the 2014 midterm election.

As
Senator Cruz notes, if ObamaCare were a good thing, if it were working
Obama would want it to be in full force before the 2014 midterm
election. "The delay is a tacit admission that this thing ain't
working."

Consider this a call to action. Spread the word. Only you can get ObamaCare defunded.